Monday, November 30, 2015

Hello there! Last week at The Challenge so many of you linked up your gorgeous, traditional Christmas cards (thanks to all who played along!) This week we're asking you to make a non-traditional Christmas card. There are some wonderful examples by the design team members to spark your creativity, so be sure to take a look.

For my card today I started with white card stock. I mixed some embossing paste with purple Perfect Pearls powder, and used the ARTplorations Leaf Prints stencil to apply the paste.

Now I'm going to share a "boo boo" with you, see the tiny black words on some of those purple leaves? When I was running my leaf print panel (which was dry btw!) through my die cut machine I laid a piece of scratch paper down on top so I didn't get any of the paste on my upper cutting plate and there were some words on that piece of paper (it had been run through my printer at one point), and those words transferred onto the paste. Rather than scrap the whole piece I decided to roll with it, and ran it through a few more time placing the words on several different leaves. The words are backwards but they're so tiny you can't even tell. I'll have to remember this happy mistake for the future because I kind of like it :)

The wavy Snow Drifts die is from MFT and I cut using shiny silver card stock. The word "peace" (Aqua Mist card stock) and coordinating sentiment are from PTI. I embossed "be with you" using silver sparkle embossing powder. The card base is PTI Soft Stone card stock. I finished the card with some sheer white ribbon and silver cording.

I hope we have as many entries this week as we had last week because I LOVE non-traditional Christmas cards and I'm excited to see what you all make. Please join us!

I thought that these tall flowers from Fall Florals would work perfectly with the sketch. I stamped them using Wplus9's Last Leaf ink, then I embossed the overlay in gold. The sentiment is from PTI, and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh. This card came together very easily and I really do love the modern, graphic feel of this (not my typical style!)

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Hello, everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you snagged some great Black Friday deals! I'm sharing a card today that I made for the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

This is such a classic sketch, one I can see myself using over and over again!

Aren't those squirrels just the CUTEST? They're from the Clearly Besotted Nutty But Nice stamp set, and I colored them using my Zig Clean Color brush markers. I made the tree branch using a stencil from Winnie & Walter, and the large heart is from Concord & 9th's Let's Chat stamp set.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

I won these cute little owl pins from Darcie Heater Designs in a giveaway from Stephanie Klauck. The stamps are from a new company that I'm very excited about, Concord & 9th! I recently bought 2 of their stamp sets and used them both here. The sentiment is from Love You Mean It and the little hearts behind the owls is from Let's Chat. The heart is meant to be a heart like those that are drawn in a cappuccino but it reminded me of a wood heart so I thought it would work great with the owls. I think this turned out so cute!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all of my American friends! I have a card to share with you today that I made for the current Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights Challenge. The board for this challenge is stunning!

I love the rich, warm colors and wonderful texture in the photos!

In order to add lots of texture I used a Spellbinders 3D M-Bossabilities folder (Roman Romance) to emboss some white paper, then I used Broken China and Peacock Feathers distress inks and my ink blending tool to hit the raised areas with some color. I stamped and clear embossed the word "hello" and fussy cut it, and the "have a beautiful day" sentiment is embossed in gold. They're both from Mondo Magnolia. I die cut the leaves from Wild Garden from shiny gold card stock. I added the gold edge around the card using my Versamark ink pad and gold embossing powder. I added a few splatters of Heidi Swapp gold spray, and a few gold sequins to finish it. I'm "semi-pleased" with how this turned out, not completely as I'd envisioned it but not too shabby either ;)

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Hello! I'm sharing a card today that I made for the current Sparkle & Shine Challenge! The Fall inspiration photo is just gorgeous.

I wanted to make a fall wreath for my card but I don't own any wreath stamps that were suitable, so I improvised. I used an older stamp set from Inkadinkado called Foilage Trails and I cut one of the stamps apart to form my wreath. I used Dried Marigold, Ripe Persimmon, Scattered Straw and Barn Door distress inks to stamp the wreath, and Gathered Twigs to stamp the berries and sentiment. The sentiment is from Winnie and Walter. I used felt to make a bow using the Perfect Bow die from Simon Says Stamp. The card base is made from PTI Fine Linen card stock, stamped with Gathered Twigs ink using the Envelope Pattern stamp from Hero Arts. I finished the card with a sprinkling of clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Hi there! It's Monday, and that means it's time for a new challenge at The Challenge! This week we have a Christmas inspiration challenge with a beautiful, versatile graphic to inspire you.

My card was extremely simple to make. I love this patterned paper from Basic Grey's Jovial 6X6 paper pad. With the red flowers, greenery, pretty ornaments, and creamy white snowflakes, I felt that it really captured the essence of the inspiration photo. I decided to use a curved die from PTI to cut the paper (inspired by the curve of the banister in the photo), and added the sentiment, also from PTI, and all I needed to finish the card was some cream colored twine and a few gold jingle bells. As I said, very simple and quick!

I hope that you'll join us at The Challenge this week! Hop on over to the blog and see what the rest of the design team has created, I'm sure you'll be inspired :)

I was inspired by the colors in the picture as well as the pretty cups of hot cocoa. I used 4 stamp sets to make my card, the cocoa cup is from PTI's Warm Happiness, the mittens are from Wplus9's Holiday Cheer, the stars are from PTI's Star Scribbles, and the sentiment is from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler. The ink colors I used are Wplus9's Bo Peep and Silver Lining, CTMH Parchment, and VersaFine Vintage Sepia. This was a very easy card to make but it really tickles me how cute it turned out, I just love it!

I hope you'll be inspired by the challenge photo, and my card, and play along with us this week. Be sure to head on over to The Challenge and check out all of the DT's wonderful cards!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Hello and happy Friday the 13th! Today was my "lucky" day, I had a free coffee coming at the wonderful little coffee stand I frequent every Friday at my local farmer's market. I had my regular, which is a large iced Irish Cream latte with an extra shot of espresso. The ladies who run the stand are Amish, a mother and daughter team, and they are just the nicest people. I don't even have to tell them what I want anymore, they know it by heart! So the day started out well for me :)

When I got home I decided to break open more of my new Winnie & Walter stamps and dies. I'd saved one of the Winnie & Walter gift certificates I'd won a few months ago, and that combined with my monthly craft budget allowed me to get several of the new items from the last release. It was SO HARD to narrow down my list because I loved everything from this last release!! If I do well at a craft show I'm doing next weekend I want to pick up a few more items from them, fingers crossed. I'm playing along with the current Rerun challenge. I don't own the Happy Christmas stamp set that they're featuring this month so I'm using one of the DT cards as inspiration. Specifically, Kelly Griglione's gorgeous ornament card! But instead of hanging ornaments and a big sentiment my card features hanging bird houses and a big sentiment.

Originally the card was going to be one layer, I had cut masks of the birdhouses and birds so I could make it that way, but when I was coloring I wasn't happy with the way a few of the birdhouses looked, so I ended up restamping 2 of them and cutting them out. I used my Zig Clean Color brush markers to color everything. I used very light blue Copics (B000 and B0000) to color around the images and make them pop a bit more. I cut the word home from gold card stock.

Hope you've had a "lucky" day today too, and that you enjoy a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by :)

Thursday, November 12, 2015

I actually have the same sentiment that Tracey used on hers, and I LOVE how it looks with this ornament die, but I didn't want to use the exact same thing Tracey did. I was just thrilled though with the chance to break out these Spellbinder dies and coordinating Vintage Ornament stamp set from Waltzingmouse Stamps because I bought them several years ago and have only used them one time I think (yikes, not good lol!) To make the ornament I inked up the stamp with Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, and Broken China distress stains and stamped on watercolor paper. For the sentiment I used Hickory Smoke distress ink, and Broken China stain for the little swirl underneath the "with Love". For the holly leaves which are from CTMH, I used the Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick stains and fussy cut. I found some pretty gray ribbon in my stash and used some of that tied with some twine. This was super quick and easy to make and I love the distressed vintage look!

Have you made any tags for this event? There are so many inspiring tags being presented each day on Tracey's blog, check it out if you haven't yet!

Howdy! There's an awesome new sketch up over at Wplus9 for their Get Sketchy Challenge, and I had to play along!

I decided to use the adorable image from Holiday Hugs, and this time I wanted to try paper piecing it. I used papers from Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly 6x6 paper pad. The snowflakes were cut with dies from PTI, and the curved scalloped edge was cut with a die from Simon Says Stamp. The sentiment is also from Holiday Hugs. I think this might be the CUTEST holiday stamp set I've ever owned and I'm so happy Dawn created it for all of us to enjoy :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

My intention was to turn the sketch upside down and use the curves from the Snow Drift die as the elements shown at the top of the sketch, but I suppose where I placed the sentiment could also work as that top element. Confused? Sorry, so am I lol! At any rate, I used 3 different MFT stamp sets to make my card, the penguin is from Penguins in Paradise, the Christmas tree and sentiment are from Santa's Elves, and the bow on top of the tree is from Sweet BD Wishes. The snowflake dies are from PTI. I used Zig Clean Color markers to color the tree and penguin. I used lots of marshmallow Pretty Pink Posh sequins on my card to mimic snow falling. I had so much fun making this, cute cards are the MOST fun to make :)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Hello there! I made a card for the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge that I'd like to share today. This is a super versatile CAS sketch that I'm sure I'll be using over and over again!

I used a Quick Card Panel, tag die, and wreath die from Reverse Confetti to make this simple card. The hardest part of this was probably fussing with the ribbon and twine and bells and getting it all arranged the way I wanted (does anyone else struggle with that the way I do, sheesh lol?!!)

Monday, November 9, 2015

NOTE: If you're looking for The Challenge #50 post please scroll down to the next blog post.

I made a card that I'm entering in the Curtain Call Plush & Plaid challenge. I haven't played along with Curtain Call in a very long time, but when I saw the plaid graphic I had to join in because I do LOVE me some plaid!

The supplies I used for this card are mostly older supplies, but I really love when I can find uses for my older but still much loved items! The patterned papers are from the BG Jovial 6x6 pad, and the stamp is from CTMH's Vintage Christmas stamp set. The postage edge pieces were cut with a die set I won from SSS. The holly leaves were cut using a die set from Reverse Confetti. This masculine card is going to be perfect to send to my brother for Christmas :)

Hello and happy Monday! We have a color challenge for you this week at The Challenge, and the graphic for it is gorgeous! I'm also playing along with Freshly Made Sketches today, I used their sketch to make my card.

Isn't the pillow in the photo gorgeous?! I wanted to add some texture to mimic the pillow to my card so I used some cross stitch fabric, cut with a stitched circle die. The poinsettia and sentiment are from Winnie & Walter. I used white embossing powder on red patterned paper to make my poinsettia, and I cut several layers to give it dimension. The silver fronds were cut from silver card stock using a craft punch. I added some silver and marshmallow sequins to finish the card.

Remember, you don't have to use a poinsettia on your card since this is a color challenge, any card using red, silver, kraft, and white will be fine. Be sure to stop over at The Challenge to see what the design team created; can't wait to see what YOU make!!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Hello! I finally got around to making a tag for an event that's happening on Tracey McNeeley's blog, 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Tracey's been hosting this event for 4 years, but I believe this is the first time I'm participating (I say I "believe" it is because my memory isn't what it used to be so I'm not sure if I made a tag for it in past years lol!!) There are lots of wonderful sponsors and prizes to be won for participating, and TONS of fabulous INSPIRATION daily to jump start your creativity!

The tag I made was inspired by this pretty little tag by Karolyn Loncon on day 1:

And my tag:

I love the poinsettia and greenery on Karolyn's tag, and the scallop edge detail. I used a poinsettia from Winnie & Walter, which I stamped on patterned paper and embossed with silver, as well as the "to" and "from" which were cut from silver card stock. The border scallop is also from Winnie & Walter. The greenery was cut from a craft punch, and the tag base is from Lil Inker.

I'm hoping to make a few more tags soon. Be sure to hop on over to Tracey's blog and check out all of the gorgeous holiday tags!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Hello! Today I'm playing along with the current Sparkle and Shine Challenge! I love the rich, vibrant colors of this month's inspiration photo and had to make a card using them.

Aren't those colors wonderful together?! Here is the card I made:

I thought that the hats and gloves from Wplus9's Holiday Cheer stamp set would look wonderful stamped in the challenge colors. I used 4 of Wplus9's Pure Color inks to stamp them, Cockleshell, Ocean Drive, Falling For Blue, and Beanstalk. For the card base I used MFT's Snow Drift Cover die and some sparkly white paper. I really love how the frosty, sparkly paper looks with the hats, even prettier in real life than I could capture on my photo. The heart die is also from MFT. The sequins and snowflakes are from a pack I got in a kit from Simon Says Stamp. The snowflakes were just perfect for this card.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Hello there! Paper Smooches has started their new challenge on their blog, and this month's theme is GOLD!

For this card I used the adorable kitties from Comforting Hugs and added the elephant's Santa hat from Tis the Season, cute, no?!! The kitties are colored with Zig Clean Color brush markers. The sentiment was cut from shiny gold card stock, as were the tiny stars. The holly leave dies are from PTI and I added some tiny red pearls. I also added some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine splashes to the background to give the card a bit more gold. They're a little hard to see on this picture but they add a beautiful glimmer in real life! This card just makes me HAPPY, those little kitties are so sweet!

Hello friends! Are you up for a fun sketch at The Challenge? I love working with sketches, they're my very favorite kind of challenges!

Last week at The Challenge we had a wedding theme, and while I had my May Simon Says Stamp card kit out looking for things for that challenge I decided to use some of the supplies from the kit to make this card. All of the papers and stickers I used for this card are from that kit. This came together quickly and easily which is one of the reasons I really love coordinating card kits!

I hope you'll join us this week at The Challenge and play along. Be sure to check out the wonderful cards the rest of the design team and our guest created, they've provided lots of wonderful inspiration!